Sunday, June 28, 2009

Trek Expo 2009 has wrapped up. Overall, I had a good time but the atmosphere was much different this year. I don't know if it was me, the economy, the guest list, the not-so-rushed attitude, or what but there wasn't as much of a spark of excitement as in past years.

Speaking of guests... Chase Masterson, a regular attendee (she must have family in the area or something), was lovely in form and voice as usual.

Leonard Nimoy started out interesting but we bailed on his talk. We were in the cheap seats and the acoustics of the room, combined with the tonal quality of his voice, made it very difficult to understand what he was saying (we weren't the only ones).

The one I really wanted to see was Corin Nemec from Stargate SG-1. He was one of only four guests I hadn't seen before. He was well spoken but needs to work on his timing. His stories, while interesting, tended to grab attention early then fade out instead of having a punch. He's very nice, though and I think he's losing his hair (he was never without a hat all weekend).

Of unexpected interest was Phil Morris. He has done a lot of voice work, he played Jackie Chiles in Seinfeld, a Jem-Hadar and a Klingon on Deep Space 9, and most recently The Martian Manhunter on Smallville. Two bits of trivia: He is the son of Greg Morris who was on the original Mission: Impossible. When it was remade later during a writer's strike, he was cast as the same character his father played. Also, he got his start in television and in the Star Trek universe in the original series as one of the children in the eposide Miri. He has some great stories.

Garret Wang was entertaining as usual. Here, he is doing his "Power of DeLanciiiiiiiie!!" schtick. He brings a lot of energy to a convention.

For the second time, I had the opportunity to see Avery Brooks. He is a very interesting person with very zen-like insights and mindset. It makes for interesting Q&A because half of the time when he's finished giving his answer, your mind has followed his etherial rhetoric and you have forgotten what the original question was.

Cirroc Lofton, who played Jake Cisco on DS9, was scheduled such that he and Avery spent an hour sharing the stage. At one point, they were talking about an eposide in which Tony Todd had guest-starred and called him up to the stage. Made for a nice photo-op.